The food processing industry has continually tried to improve the flavor, nutritional content, look, smell and shelf-life of mass-produced food products. The search by food processors for new methods of enhancing such characteristics of mass-produced food products has resulted in numerous different food processing approaches.
One well known method for enhancing certain characteristics in food products is to marinate the food products within a liquid. Depending on the type of liquid in which the food product is marinated, the characteristics of a particular food product can be drastically changed.
A typical method for marinating food products is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,163, which is incorporated herein by reference. The method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,163 uses a vacuum tumbler to marinate food products. The vacuum tumbler includes a container that is partially filled with a saline solution. A pump that is external to the container creates a partial vacuum within that portion of the container that is not filled with saline solution. The container of the tumbler is maneuvered so that portions of the food products within the container are alternately exposed to the saline solution and the partial vacuum.
The vacuum tumbling process has dramatically improved the ability of food processors to enhance desirable characteristics in mass-produced food products. Therefore, any improvement in the devices or processes relating to marinating food products by vacuum tumbling would be desirable.